ASPO Abstracts
Randomized Trial of Weight Loss on Circulating Ghrelin Levels Among Breast Cancer Survivors
Category: Lifestyles Behavior, Energy Balance & Chemoprevention
Conference Year: 2020
Abstract Body:
Purpose: Obesity is associated with increased breast cancer risk and mortality. The hormone ghrelin
is part of a negative feedback loop regulating body weight. This study aims to determine the effect of
a weight loss intervention on ghrelin levels in breast cancer survivors with a body mass index (BMI)
(>25 kg/m2).
Methods: The Lifestyle, Exercise, and Nutrition (LEAN) study was a 6-month randomized trial, which
examined the effectiveness of a weight loss intervention versus usual care in 151 breast cancer
survivors with BMI ≥25 kg/m2. Ghrelin was measured in fasting baseline and 6-month blood
samples. Baseline associations between ghrelin, body composition and blood biomarkers were
examined. Six-month change in ghrelin was compared between the study arms.
Results: Ghrelin levels were available for 128 women. At baseline, ghrelin was correlated with age
(r=0.28, p<0.001) and inversely correlated with weight (r=-0.18, p=0.03), lean body mass (r=-0.18,
p=0.02), and leptin (r=-0.18, p=0.03). Over 6-months, ghrelin increased 12.08% in the intervention
group and decreased 31.05% in the usual care group (p=0.04).
Conclusions: These findings support our hypothesis that weight loss, achieved through a lifestyle
intervention, is associated with higher ghrelin levels in breast cancer survivors. Further research
should explore ghrelin’s effect on long-term weight-maintenance and breast cancer mortality.
Keywords: Ghrelin, Breast cancer, Exercise, Weight loss